Hospitals across the region are making final preparations for the next walkouts.

Bosses at the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust say they have been forced to scale back non-urgent surgery and outpatient clinics to ensure safe staffing levels across their sites.

Professor Matthew Makin, medical director at the Pennine Acute, described it as an ‘unprecedented situation for the NHS’.

He said: “Because junior doctors are not providing emergency care during these two strike days unfortunately we have had to contact patients to cancel more non-urgent surgery and outpatient appointments than we did for the last strike days.”

Patients whose appointments are affected by the strikes should have already been contacted by their hospital.

What if I have an appointment on Tuesday or Wednesday and I’ve not heard anything?

If you have not been contacted by your hospital, assume your appointment is going ahead as planned.

Hospitals should have got in touch with you if your appointment or operation is cancelled.

Will GP practices still be open?

Yes, your doctors’ surgery will be open as usual but GPs may experience more demand than usual.

Extra GP appointments will be available during the strikes, but check with your own practice to see what local services are being offered.

The strike involve junior doctors - not fully fledged GPs. But some junior doctors will be trainee GPs.

A few routine appointments may be cancelled on strike days. You will have been notified if this applies to you.

Who should you call?

Emergencies: you should still dial 999 for an ambulance.

This number should only be used in real, life-threatening situations.

Coughs, colds and back pain are not emergencies.

Urgent medical help: dial 111 is the NHS non-emergency number. This for when you want medical help quickly but not an emergency. They will ask you a series of questions to assess your symptoms and immediately direct you to the best medical care for you.

NHS 111 has increased its clinical call handling capacity ahead of the strike.